UK mineral water firm Navson has developed a low price-point energy gum fortified with taurine and B vitamins.

The company is among the leading mineral water firms in the UK as the European distributor of Ülker's Saka
brand, but it has now entered the confectionery industry with its own Raw energy gum, which retails for 99p ($1.65) and tastes like an energy drink.

“There was an opportunity to do something slightly different and come up with a product that had a unique selling point, “ he said.

“Energy gums are normally a lot more than the regular retail price. We understand that gum is an impulse category. So the guys coming to the till don’t want to spend £2-£3 ($3.33-$5)”

Navson is best-known for mineral water brand Saka.

He said that a lot of energy gums had entered the market in recent years and failed due to excessive price points.

Caffeine-free

Each 18-piece pack of Raw energy gum retails at 99p ($1.65) and is fortified with taurine and B Vitamins. Many other energy gums contain caffeine, which has come under the scrutiny in the past year.

“There’s a lot of negativity around caffeine at the moment with kids in schools,” said Roser.

Last year, Wrigley launched Alert Energy Caffeine Gum in the US but quickly pulled the product
after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expressed concerns about the health effects of caffeine on kids.

Energy gums: A young category

Energy gum is still a young category and sales have been flat in the EU at €12m ($16.6m) since 2008, according to Euromonitor International. The energy category however is on the rise. At €22bn ($30.3bn), Euromonitor data shows that ‘energy’ was the largest and fastest growing functional foods and drinks category in 2011-2012.

Fit for impulse

Raw energy gum display for checkout counters

Roser said he expected Raw energy gum to survive retailers’ moves towards healthier tills since it was sugar and caffeine free.

Discount retailer Lidl recently removed all chocolate and sweets from checkouts except for Wrigley’s gum across its UK stores. Tesco is also trialing healthier checkouts in the UK.

Raw energy gum is packaged in blister packs and Navson has designed a branded display that shop keepers can place on the till.

Roser said that most energy gums came in tube packaging, which wasn’t suited to checkout displays.